Datsun — Restaurant in Ottawa

It's a pretty cool place, a tad on the pricey side but most of the things were worth it I found. Some of the things I didn't like were just how dimly lit the place was and the ultra- close-knit seating arrangements.. similar to their sister restaurant El Camino next door but i guess it's downtown and space is an issue so it can't be helped. On to the food! We started with the chicken wings which, true to their fish sauce roots, smelled a little fishy at first but were among the best wings I've ever had in my life.. Then we had the shrimp burgers (sliders) which at $6 each for a tiny slider is extremely overpriced especially for the skimped ingredients (had them before and there was much more filling inside) but the taste is remarkable... it's a very unique blend of flavors. The shrimp dumplings with water chestnuts were really really good.. love the fresh little crunch that the water chestnuts imparted. The mouth numbing eggplant sounds crazy but it's neither spicy nor Wasabi-esque as the name implies- they do have a spectactular flavour though and i highly recommend the dish. We then shared the Dan dan noodles with chili sauce and minced pork. This was an interesting dish, very rich and buttery, but with this kind of spicy, earthy flavor to it. I probably would not get it again but that's just me. Lastly, we had the tonkotsu ramen with pork shoulder and black garlic... this had a pretty crazy flavour profile.. it was very wild almost and uniquely multifaceted. Admittedly, i have not had a lot of Ramens (except in my college days) so maybe this is my untrained palate speaking but I don't know if I would get it again. That's just me though.. Service wise- their service is 5 stars all the way.. the staff is very attentive, very knowledgeable and they really make you feel like a valued guest from the moment you walk in. I actually had an issue with the dan dan noodle dish being unbelievably salty!! Like biblically speaking, i think they used a whole pillar of salt lol. So i felt it must be a mistake and brought it to their attention. Our lovely server immediately brought it back to the kitchen, then returned and informed us that it was mistakenly salty and actually gave us the option of either having another one made or just striking it from the bill with their deepest apologies. We chose to have a other one made.. but yeah A+ for the service. What a...

FOOD Pork belly bun - I was a little skeptical going in, because I've been disappointed with this dish quite a few times at hyped restaurants in big cities, but this was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't a groundbreaking mind-blowing new flavour or anything, but it was very good! The bun was super soft, and meat was tender and subtly seasoned, and the sauce was not overpowering.

Green papaya salad - Refreshing. Loved the super crispy texture.

Mushrooms & snow peas - This was sooo goood. Snow peas were fresh and not too crunchy but not too soft. The yuzu went really good with the grilled mushroom flavour.

Laksa - Omg this was so rich and SO GOOD. I've had laksas in Singapore, and I think those were fishier than this, but I liked this a lot, whether it's authentic or not. Also, the prawns they used were some of the most plump, fresh prawns I've ever had that's not in sushi form. Really unexpected as we're not by the sea.

Turnip - This dish was OK. When the server asked us how the food was and I said "eh, it's OK", she gave us another dish free of charge.

Tuna sashimi - This was the make-up dish for the un-amazing turnip above. The server suggested this one over the tartar dishes. Again I was pleasantly surprised by how good the tuna was considering Ottawa is not by the sea. The tuna, turnip slices, cucumber, and lemon (or yuzu) zest eaten together was such refreshing and sophisticated mix of summery flavours.

Deep-fried ice cream - I'm lactose intolerant, and I got it only because I saw "sesame" in the description, but the ice cream itself was so great. I'd order again knowing I'll have minor stomach problems later on.

SERVICE I'd describe the servers as casual-professional. They are fun and not stuck up, but professional enough that you feel like a valued customer. Our server insisted that they want us to leave the place happy, so she didn't charge us for the turnip (even though it wasn't bad; it was just not as good as the other dishes) or the sashimi.

ATMOSPHERE Decor is fun, I like it. The free arcade machine in the corner is awesome. The restaurant was a bit too loud for me - we sat at the community table and had to shout across the table to be able to hear each other. I also found the community table a bit too wide for food-sharing & talking. Can't comment on the bar or the individual tables.

Overall, 10/10...

Terrible experience.

Today is my birthday, so I made the decision to hold my birthday celebration here, which might be the worst decision I’ve made in my entire life.

First let’s talk about the taste. As for the dishes, my plate was super late; My friend who came in and ordered half an hour later even got their food and I got really hungry so then I checked with the server, then my food arrived within 2 minutes which makes me suspicious if my food was forgotten on their counter. When I got my food, they taste horrible, I get the idea of them doing a mixed Asian cuisine with different styles, but in my opinion they failed miserably; the balance of flavour is absent, and the overuse of green onions was disastrous. The “bao”-their featured food, cost 7.95 for each, also failed us; the chicken and tofu ones all taste just like junior chicken, super disappointed.

Then let’s talk about the service. we were ejected for having my birthday cake by our server, who can definitely see our birthday cake on the table at the beginning, for the reason of “bringing outside food into the restaurant”, and if we insist to eat my birthday cake on my birthday, we have to pay 4.5 dollars per person.

Across the years I have been to multiple restaurants for my birthday celebrations, they all treated me fair, but there is no any other restaurants like Datsun can ruined the big day for me. Most restaurants I’ve been to, regardless of high- end or ordinary restaurants, they usually says HAPPY BIRTHDAY, right? Okay maybe a greeting was too much to ask for, but at least don’t treat us like people who’re trying to break basic restaurant rules. I always assume that if a customer wants to hold their birthday at your restaurant, it would be a compliment. But apparently it appears to be their burden. Our party tried to communicate with the server, but all she said was “This is just our company policy.”

Overall, the food was bland, the service was as I described.. If you are looking forward to having a good time in this place, maybe have a second...